Buckled Spider
Discussion
Hi guys, having had some wheel wobble on the car after having a set of 2nd hand spiders fitted, had another go at balancing them again today, but the front right has a visible wobble when its spun on the balancing machine and the guy confirmed that it was buckled.
What options do I have here for repair ?
1) Can a buckled spider wheel be repaired- and if so where (I'm in the Northwest) ?
2) I've seen pxwheels and read good reviews, but would they px a buckled wheel ?
3) Buy a new spider wheel.
Thanks for your replies
I'm almost in the same boat but my N/S front is slightly scuffed - what I'm after is an unmarked, straight spider.
To be honest, I don't know of any place where a Spider can be put straight or exchanged but if there is, I'm sure some one on PH will let you know.
If there's a pair of unmarked, straight ones going, I'll split them with you... Let me know
To be honest, I don't know of any place where a Spider can be put straight or exchanged but if there is, I'm sure some one on PH will let you know.
If there's a pair of unmarked, straight ones going, I'll split them with you... Let me knowA Chap called Tony Bickerstaffe straightens 18" spiders on a weekly basis. As long as they aren't cracked or seriously bent, a repair should be possible at a low cost. He is in Wakefield (J39 M1 if that's not too far).
I have used him a few times, especially after track use when I always seem to use too much kerb! Details supplied via email to keep Ted happy.
I have used him a few times, especially after track use when I always seem to use too much kerb! Details supplied via email to keep Ted happy.
I have repaired an accident damaged tuscan for a car trader I know who had two so called straightened wheels on his car,
he was shunted from the side at 20 mph, spun off hit kerb and both wheels snapped off around spokes,one spoke took about 5 inches of rim with it and wheels folded under car bending and smashing almost everything.
the nearside rear which was previously undamaged sustained a huge dent but stayed together although there were many small crscks in spokes.
upon inspecton of the remains of the broken wheels we could tell the breaks were from previous damage by the fact that the metal at the break was discoloured/tarnished around the surface from being open even though covered in paint.
the question is do you want to take the chance on driving around at high speed on a wheel that could have a serious structual weakness which without x-ray you probably cant see.while small dents etc are probably ok I would seek out new wheels if they are buckled.
I use peninsula for all parts and they supplied me with a set of 18 spiders for £195 each recently,cheaper than the tyres!
look at picture on my profile look at wheels in top right of pic notice center missing on centre stack!
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 03:25
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 03:29
he was shunted from the side at 20 mph, spun off hit kerb and both wheels snapped off around spokes,one spoke took about 5 inches of rim with it and wheels folded under car bending and smashing almost everything.
the nearside rear which was previously undamaged sustained a huge dent but stayed together although there were many small crscks in spokes.
upon inspecton of the remains of the broken wheels we could tell the breaks were from previous damage by the fact that the metal at the break was discoloured/tarnished around the surface from being open even though covered in paint.
the question is do you want to take the chance on driving around at high speed on a wheel that could have a serious structual weakness which without x-ray you probably cant see.while small dents etc are probably ok I would seek out new wheels if they are buckled.
I use peninsula for all parts and they supplied me with a set of 18 spiders for £195 each recently,cheaper than the tyres!
look at picture on my profile look at wheels in top right of pic notice center missing on centre stack!
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 03:25
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 03:29
dickkark said:
I have repaired an accident damaged tuscan for a car trader I know who had two so called straightened wheels on his car,
he was shunted from the side at 20 mph, spun off hit kerb and both wheels snapped off around spokes,one spoke took about 5 inches of rim with it and wheels folded under car bending and smashing almost everything.
the nearside rear which was previously undamaged sustained a huge dent but stayed together although there were many small crscks in spokes.
upon inspecton of the remains of the broken wheels we could tell the breaks were from previous damage by the fact that the metal at the break was discoloured/tarnished around the surface from being open even though covered in paint.
the question is do you want to take the chance on driving around at high speed on a wheel that could have a serious structual weakness which without x-ray you probably cant see.while small dents etc are probably ok I would seek out new wheels if they are buckled.
I use peninsula for all parts and they supplied me with a set of 18 spiders for £195 each recently,cheaper than the tyres!
look at picture on my profile look at wheels in top right of pic notice center missing on centre stack!
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 03:25
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 03:29
I think you have a lot of faith in the production companies, or not much in the repairers. I'm not sure I see the difference in a repaired wheel or a new one.
I doubt the new ones are xrays for cracks, and these cracks can appear anytime in the manufacturing process. You only have to look at the large number of spiders that have developed cracks in the inner rim shortly after being put on cars and with no crash damage that get incidently noticed at MOTs. I think there was even a tacit recall.
Assuming the repaired uses appropriate heating equipment and doesn't just bash the poo out of a bent rim with a hammer to get it back in line I'm not sure I mind.
Spiders are an inherently poor design, and see to develop a slight eccentricity after even normal use.
as I said the evidence speaks for its self,three wheels damaged, two hit kerb sideways the offside front PREVIOUSLY REPAIRED snapped off completely,offside rear NOT PREVIOUSLY REPAIRED took same impact as front just bent and dented on rim but stayed in one piece, nearside front PREVIOUSLY REPAIRED took less of impact on kerb but still completely broke off taking 5 inch chunk of rim with it,
so I guess if what you say about wheels cracking anyway is true, its still worse as cracks are a stress riser and as such any impact will only weaken these cracks more,
so you are stll better off with previously undamaged wheels.
but if you dont mind risking your life and possibly others for a few hundred quid then all well and good,but as the wheels are cheap,one wheel for my voyager was £330,18" spider front or rear is £195, the repairers probably charge around £50 a wheel so it makes new wheels very cheap indeed.
If you have any proper car be prepaired to pay out for proper parts, any alloy wheel that has sustained damaged will never be as strong again regardless of who its repaired by as the repair process only consists of applying heat and then hammering.
nice jaguar by the way.
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 19:05
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 22:46
so I guess if what you say about wheels cracking anyway is true, its still worse as cracks are a stress riser and as such any impact will only weaken these cracks more,
so you are stll better off with previously undamaged wheels.
but if you dont mind risking your life and possibly others for a few hundred quid then all well and good,but as the wheels are cheap,one wheel for my voyager was £330,18" spider front or rear is £195, the repairers probably charge around £50 a wheel so it makes new wheels very cheap indeed.
If you have any proper car be prepaired to pay out for proper parts, any alloy wheel that has sustained damaged will never be as strong again regardless of who its repaired by as the repair process only consists of applying heat and then hammering.
nice jaguar by the way.
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 19:05
>> Edited by dickkark on Friday 26th May 22:46
Julian64 said:
I think you have a lot of faith in the production companies, or not much in the repairers. I'm not sure I see the difference in a repaired wheel or a new one.
I doubt the new ones are xrays for cracks, and these cracks can appear anytime in the manufacturing process. You only have to look at the large number of spiders that have developed cracks in the inner rim shortly after being put on cars and with no crash damage that get incidently noticed at MOTs. I think there was even a tacit recall.
Assuming the repaired uses appropriate heating equipment and doesn't just bash the poo out of a bent rim with a hammer to get it back in line I'm not sure I mind.
Spiders are an inherently poor design, and see to develop a slight eccentricity after even normal use.
What??? Your facts are completely wrong.
Repairing buckled wheels is a VERY DANGEROUS practice. When a wheel buckles the material work hardens (and "bending it back" furthers this process) making the material brittle. Using heat (naked flame etc.) is also inherently dangerous as the conditions are not controlled and the heat will inevitably weaken the material. I have seen repaired wheels fail in service and the devastating consequences - people die.
The cracks to inner rims you mention were NOT on Spider wheels - it was the 7 spoke wheel made by Two Gates aka Raceline which suffered from material contamination and was exacerbated by the fact that it was a high-load short-life motorsport design wheel. For info, the Spider wheel manufacturer does use x-ray technology in its quality control - the Spider wheel is poor (in our opinion) but only because of the specification that TVR set.
SP said:
I think you have a lot of faith in the production companies, or not much in the repairers. I'm not sure I see the difference in a repaired wheel or a new one.
I doubt the new ones are xrays for cracks, and these cracks can appear anytime in the manufacturing process. You only have to look at the large number of spiders that have developed cracks in the inner rim shortly after being put on cars and with no crash damage that get incidently noticed at MOTs. I think there was even a tacit recall.
Assuming the repaired uses appropriate heating equipment and doesn't just bash the poo out of a bent rim with a hammer to get it back in line I'm not sure I mind.
Spiders are an inherently poor design, and see to develop a slight eccentricity after even normal use.
What??? Your facts are completely wrong.
Repairing buckled wheels is a VERY DANGEROUS practice. When a wheel buckles the material work hardens (and "bending it back" furthers this process) making the material brittle. Using heat (naked flame etc.) is also inherently dangerous as the conditions are not controlled and the heat will inevitably weaken the material. I have seen repaired wheels fail in service and the devastating consequences - people die.
The cracks to inner rims you mention were NOT on Spider wheels - it was the 7 spoke wheel made by Two Gates aka Raceline which suffered from material contamination and was exacerbated by the fact that it was a high-load short-life motorsport design wheel. For info, the Spider wheel manufacturer does use x-ray technology in its quality control - the Spider wheel is poor (in our opinion) but only because of the specification that TVR set.
Nope, cracks were on spiders, and no one was suggesting playing a naked flame. Furthermore work hardening happens when you bash the living daylights out of a metal with a hammer without controlling its temperature structure and no one was suggesting that either. And lastly heat doesn't weaken any metal per'say, heating and cooling can both soften and harden metal depending on its structure and is not a one trick pony as you suggest. A strange comment as the metal is obviously heated to make the spider in the first place.
I think if you do a search on this forum you'll find a thread confirming the Cerb owners reports on cracks on the internal rims of spiders.
Julian64 said:
Nope, cracks were on spiders, and no one was suggesting playing a naked flame. Furthermore work hardening happens when you bash the living daylights out of a metal with a hammer without controlling its temperature structure and no one was suggesting that either. And lastly heat doesn't weaken any metal per'say, heating and cooling can both soften and harden metal depending on its structure and is not a one trick pony as you suggest. A strange comment as the metal is obviously heated to make the spider in the first place.
I think if you do a search on this forum you'll find a thread confirming the Cerb owners reports on cracks on the internal rims of spiders.
Your experience is based on anecdotal hearsay on Pistonheads. Mine is based on many years experience working in the wheel industry.
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